Are You Eau-fending Your Co-Workers With Your Fragrance?

One Spritz Will do the Trick! How Much Fragrance You Should be Spraying.

It's satisfying to find—and wear—your signature scent, but it doesn't necessarily have to enter the room before you do.

To avoid OD'ing on your Eau de Toilette, we asked Stephen Nilsen, senior perfumer at Givaudan, for the best practices when it comes to spritzing on your perfume.

"These days fragrances are very different from the ones back in the '80s that could stop traffic! [When worn properly,] there is almost no worry that you'll offend your co-worker because we make sure they have just the right amount of diffusion to get only compliments without the complaints," says Nilsen. "And to make sure they are the right strength, we wear them and test them out on lots of different people."

However, if you go crazy trying to cover every inch of your skin from your neck down, you're going to have a heavy scent following you, rather than a hint. Translation: Your co-workers are going to want to kill you. "Typically [you can get away with] about five sprays anywhere that you like on your body," adds Nilsen. But any more than that and you're entering the eau no zone.

That said, since it's subtly-scented skin we're after, we suggest finding one or two spots on your body and choosing to spray your fragrance there twice. Areas like your pulse points (i.e., your wrist, your neck, etc.) are the best places to spritz, since the warmth of these spots will heat up and recharge your fragrance, emiting its scent. Just remember this when it comes to fragrance: Less is more, and you'll be just fine.

If it's your man, not your co-workers, that you're worried about sniffing you out, try using a pure essential oil blend, which lasts longer than regular perfumes, like Lavanila The Healthy Roller-Ball in Pure Vanilla, $19, lavanila.com, on your neck. That way, when he's thisclose, he'll get a whiff of the vanilla scent—a smell that turns him on—and he'll be putty in your perfectly manicured hands.